


Experiencing Difficulties

by Glowstickia



Series: Paranatural Gem Au [2]
Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Aquamarine (Isaac), Carnelian (Isabel), Emerald (Ed), Fire Opal (Mr. Spender), Gen, Hematite (Max), Pnat Gem Au, The Activity Club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 06:52:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4381652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowstickia/pseuds/Glowstickia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hematite is learning about gem culture and the other gems are amazed he hasn't heard of fusions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Lesson in Fusions

**Author's Note:**

> And fic for the Gem Au! This one is gonna hold multiple parts to it so bear with me! If you want to learn more check out the blog: http://paranaturalrocks.tumblr.com/

There were many things in Hematite's life he didn't understand, sure his dad's cooking was second on the list, but the number one spot was held for Gems. They were aliens, sure he got that, but he was born here on Earth right? Or at least his dad told him that. His dad told him a lot of things and usually they didn't make sense or were obscurely connected to a previous conversation that happened a week ago. He jotted down a couple more notes from the board before hitting his foot against the desk's leg. There was just too much to comprehend, too much history. How did Mr. Fire Opal expect them to retain this information on top of their other classes?

_Briiiiiing_

Hematite sighed in relief along with his classmates. Everyone scrambled out of their seats as Fire Opal just stared at the clock on the wall. He had the feeling Fire Opal was just getting started with each lecture, never to be complete. Hematite swallowed as he shoved his notebook and papers away. Club time. 

He dragged his feet behind Fire Opal as the two of them walked to the club room. Fire Opal had begun asking questions about the day's lecture and how he was holding up, but Hematite tuned him out. He wished he could go back to the days when he didn't know about what being a gem meant.

Fire Opal opened the door to the club room, rattling on about light years. Hematite still wasn't listening. If he wanted to learn about science, he'd learn it from Mr. Garcia _in_ class during school hours. It was after school now how do you turn the lectures off!?

Edmerald poked his head up from behind the couch and whined, "Uuuuugh space travel again? Booooring."

Fire Opal frowned, "Emerald how long have you been in here?"

The small green gem grinned, "Long enough to know you're a neeeeerd."

Fire Opal pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, pointing to a half filled jar of various colorful items resting on a bookcase, "Jar."

Edmerald shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a piece of candy from his pocket. "Worth it," he said, nodding to himself, before tossing it into the jar.

Hematite raised an eyebrow, his gaze shifting between the two gems, “Are you two having a moment? Should I go, or....?"

Fire Opal shook his head, closing the door behind him, "No no it's fine. Keeping the word down to a minimum is best for the club."

"Is nerd a swear word in gem culture?"

Edmerald pouted, "Wait why didn't he have to put something in the nerd jar? I feel robbed."

Fire Opal's glasses temporarily glowed, "Emerald."

"It's still worth it sir."

Hematite snuck over to the 'nerd jar' and looked in. Various colored candies, pencils, a bottle cap, and small toys one would get out of vending machines sat collectively in the jar. Maybe he could take one... Zoey might like the small figurine resting against the sucker shaped like a gaudy ring. "So Hema," he jumped and turned to the new speaker. Carnelian grinned, "how's it going?"

He put a hand over his heart, "What is it with you people-"

"We're technically not people!" Edmerald chimed in.

Carnelian looked at Hematite's chest and tilted her head, "I thought your gem was on your head?"

Hematite blinked, "It...is?" he moved his hand away, "I...picked up somethings..."

Carnelian shrugged and turned to Edmerald, "What'd I miss?"

Edmerald grinned, "I have so many details Carny, so many."

Hematite sighed as the two gems chattered. It was then Aqua finally walked in. Fire Opal cleared his throat, "All right, let's get started."

"Aw not another lecture."

"Emerald." Fire Opal's harsh tone was forgotten as soon as he adjusted his tie. Hematite wasn't sure where he dug it up, but it sure clashed with his gem outfit and looked more ridiculous than professional, "There are rumors of a corrupted gem on the east side of town."

Carnelian pumped her fists in the air, "Oh yeah beat down time!" She high fived Edmerald.

Fire Opal raised his hand, "Before you two get excited I want to test Hematite on his abilities. He's part of the team now-"

"Still not willingly," Hematite muttered.

"-and possibly learning about his fusions will give us the upper hand in future battles."

Hematite blinked, "Wait can you go back over that again? Fus-i-what?"

"Fusion," Fire Opal said again, "it's when-"

"Two gems smash together and make a new cooler gem!" Carnelian jumped in grinning, "It's the ultimate bond and you get cooler weapons to hit things with!"

Aqua sighed, "Fusing isn't always about hitting things Carnelian."

Fire Opal cleared his throat again, "As I was saying. Since Hematite is in the dark so why don't we shed some light on this and give him a demonstration," Carnelian and Edmerald grinned, looking at each other. "Outside." Fire Opal stated, pointing towards the door, "We don't need to do another fund raiser, especially what happened last time."

Hematite opened his mouth, but Aqua shook his head, "Trust me you don't want to know."

"Come on everyone," Fire Opal said, shooing them towards the door, "Outside let's move."

Edmerald turned on his heels as he walked behind the others. He stuck out his tongue at Hematite before spinning and running after Carnelian, "Wait up! I don't want to catch the nerd!" Hematite rolled his eyes. Today was gonna be a looooooong day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt. Chapter Title: Nerd Jar


	2. Morganite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hematite proves that he should really listen more in class.

Hematite stared at the sunlight streaming through the leaves. They had walked for what felt like forever. Then again, Emerald whining about being surrounded by nerds while Aquamarine countered the complaints didn’t help. Fire Opal marked another line on a small crumpled paper. Neither of the two would weasel out of adding to the jar. They needed to learn.

Carnelian matched Hematite’s steps after losing interest in the other two’s arguing, “So Hema,” he blinked and turned to her, “you’ve been awfully quiet lately.”

He nodded to the two in front of them, “Well considering they’re being loud enough for the five of us,” she snorted, “thought I’d balance it out.” He stopped in his tracks and stared at her, “Wait, did you just call me Hema?”

She turned, began walking backwards, and shrugged, “What? Hematite is a lil long. Gave the others nicknames, it was bound to happen.”

Emerald ran and hopped onto Carnelian’s back, “It’s true!” He shouted nearly knocking them both over. She huffed and grabbed Emerald’s legs while he grabbed her shoulders for support. He grinned, “I knew you’d catch me.”

Aquamarine shook his head and continued walking.

“We’re almost there kids! We don’t have a lot of time to goof off!” Fire Opal called back.

Carnelian and Emerald exchanged glances before she rushed after Fire Opal with Emerald whooping by the spontaneous piggy-back ride. Hematite sighed. He should probably call his father soon…

* * *

The Activity Gems stood in the middle of the clearing. Carnelian and Emerald exchanged silly faces, Aquamarine was grumbling under his breath while shielding his eyes from the sun behind Fire Opal and Hematite’s eyes were to the trees behind them. They had walked quite a ways. Approximately 15 minutes according to Hematite’s cell phone, which, unfortunately for him, was out of range of any cell towers.  He wondered if climbing a tree would gain any bars…

Aquamarine elbowed him. “Ah what-” Hematite turned his attention to Fire Opal, “I’m sorry what’s happening.”

Emerald snorted as Fire Opal gave out a sigh, “A fusion demonstration.”

Hematite side eyed the other gems, “Right…”

“For a fusion to work,” Fire Opal continued, “you’ll need at least two gems.” Carnelian and Emerald grinned at each other and raced each other to the center of the clearing. “The gems in question need to be respectful and in tune with one another.”

Carnelian and Emerald bowed to each other. Carnelian rubbed her hands together and started bouncing from side to side. Emerald in turn began doing the Cha Cha. Hematite leaned over to whisper in Aqua’s ear, “Is…Edmerald doing the Cha Cha Slide?” he asked just as Emerald slid the left.

Aqua face palmed, “This would be a much better example if I was leading the dance.”

Hematite turned his focus on Carnelian. He felt he had seen her moves in recent hip hop videos he crossed while looking for cool tricks to use for his parkouring. Emerald crisscrossed hopped just as Carnelian back-flipped towards him. Hematite tensed, expecting the two to tumble into each other when the glow of their gems took over. The light grew brighter and next thing he knew a giant four armed and one eyed gem gave him a Cheshire cat grin.

“Hematite,” Fire Opal said walking around them, “[meet Morganite](http://paranaturalrocks.tumblr.com/post/123820576342/somniens-so-heres-my-design-for-morganite).”

“Hey tiny gems!” Morganite bellowed as they crouched down to get a better view of the others.

Aquamarine scoffed, “We’re only tiny cause you’re a fusion.”

Morganite snorted, “Touchy touchy lil weathervein as always,” They locked their eye on Hematite, “You wanna see something cool?”

Hematite looked behind him then back at Morganite, “I guess?”

They clapped their hands together, “Great!” Their gem eye and the gem on one of their right hands began to glow. First they pulled out the paint brush from their eye. Hematite’s eye twitched. He still wasn’t used to that. They twirled the paintbrush in the air and pulled the book out of their hand. They crossed the two weapons as a paper witches hat appeared on their head and a broom with the book as a saddle appeared in their hands. They cackled dropping the new weapon in front of them, “Watch this~”

The broom stopped and hovered in the air. Hematite blinked, “No way…”

Aqua crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as he muttered about Morganite “show off.”

Morganite jumped on the broom and began to ‘surf’ around the clearing, leaving a trail of ink in their wake. They flew up and Fire Opal swore, “Move, move!” He pushed Aqua and Hematite as Morganite came down, smashing the ground with the paintbrush end of the broom like a hammer.

The broom disappeared in their hands, leaving behind the dirt crater. Morganite smiled sheepishly, “Oops, may have gotten a lil carried away.” They poofed back to Emerald and Carnelian.

Emerald sat cross legged on the ground while Carnelian moved strands of hair out of her face, “Well that was fun.” Hematite stared at the crater then back at Emerald and Carnelian. He was having trouble coming up with a snarky retort.

Fire Opal sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I always forget about the impulse control…” He clapped his hands together and turned towards Aquamarine and Hematite, “So, why don’t you two give it a try.”

Hematite held up his hands, “I’m good.”

“C'mon Hematite, fusing is fun,” Aquamarine whined, before taking a couple steps back, “You’ll get to learn more about the gem you fuse with too.”

Hematite’s lips thinned, “I don’t have to fuse with you to know you’re a nerd.”

Emerald coughed, “Nerd jar.”

Fire Opal shook his head and jotted something down on a piece of paper, “That’s enough Emerald,” he looked to Hematite, “It’ll be alright Hematite, just give it a go.”

Hematite rolled his eyes, “Fiiiine.”

Emerald elbowed Carnelian and whispered, “Betcha a star this doesn’t end well.”

“You’re on,” she whispered back.

Aqua stretched his arms, beaming at him, “Don’t worry you’ll do fine.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Hematite grumbled.

The fusion dance started simple enough. Aqua’s was something Hematite had seen off of an old show he used to watch, at least he thought so. Meanwhile, Hematite had decided on mimicking an old parkourish dance video he had seen as he scoured the internet. He had practiced sweet tricks and had the moves in the bag, however, things went into a downward spiral when he tried to imitate Carenlian’s sweet back-flip.

Next thing either of them knew, they were on the ground holding their gems. Carnelian hovered over Hematite as Emerald rolled over to Aquamarine. “Are you two okay?” Carnelian asked.

Emerald poked Aqua’s cheek. Aquamarine swatted his hand away, “Stop that.”

“The nerd is alive!”

“Emerald stop pestering Aquamarine,” Fire Opal pushed his sunglasses back into place. He gave Hematite a half smile as the younger gem sat up with Carnelian’s help, “Don’t beat yourself up over it. It was your first try and few gems ever get it on their first attempt.”

“Never saw a gem collision like that before,” Emerald chimed in.

Carnelian shot him a look and mouthed, “Not now.”

Fire Opal clapped his hands, ignoring Emerald’s statement, “Next time may I suggest going with your own flow. Synchronizing with another gem doesn’t entail mimicking another.”

Hematite winced, rubbing his gem on top of his head, “Kind of wish you would’ve said that first before I butted gems with Aqua.”

Carnelian picked up his hat behind him and placed it in his lap, “You really should just listen to the beat. Your hat maybe interfering with the connection.”

Hematite snatched his hat and placed it firmly on his head, “Interfering with what connection?”

Fire Opal raised his hand, “Calm down you two. Be thankful that neither of you cracked a gem.”

Aqua opened his mouth, ready to retort when a roar cut through the forest. The Activity Gems turned towards the noise, watching flocks of birds cry out and fly above them. Everyone jumped to their feet, weapons drawn and in a battle stance, save for Hematite. He slowly stood, lifted his cap and pulled out his metal bat, “Wh-what was that?”

Fire Opal’s glasses gleamed, “The corrupted gem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt. Title: There Isn't Any Cell Reception in This Forest.  
> Morganite somehow became a witch... don't ask why.


	3. Corrupted

Hematite had heard stories and rumors about corrupted gems. Most were from eavesdropping on classmates. Emerald and Carnelian had told him a couple wild tales about them taking down a few. Fire Opal even briefly mentioned what corrupted gems were and where they came from, but Hematite usually tuned him out. It was easier on his brain that way. He should’ve known he’d come face to pointy nose with one.

The corrupted gem’s gleaming red eyes stared at him from behind the thick trees of the forest. It was at least a story tall, but comparing it to a building when there were only trees around, he could be wrong. It was probably two stories tall. Hematite wanted to run. Fighting wasn’t his thing, that was Carnelian’s or he was pretty sure it was from talking with her. He flinched as the large creature roared again. The Activity Gems around him stood their ground, watching and waiting.

The creature pushed its lion like paws on the maple blocking its way and pushed. The group split on to opposite sides of the down tree as it walked into the light. It’s demonic red snake like eyes blinked, sending shivers up Hematite’s spine. The black stick of a nose reminded Hematite more of a wasp stinger than anything. Once it reached the clearing, the wings resting on it’s back expanded as it roared again. “That’s the corrupted gem?!”

“Yes,” Fire Opal shouted from the downed tree’s branches. He forgot the first rule of running out of towering objects ways. Always run to the side, never straight ahead where it has a higher probability to fall on top of you.

Emerald jumped onto the tree trunk and waving his paintbrush in the air, “You’re going down I’m yelling timber,” and painted up a scythe blade.

“Enough with the pop culture references Emerald,” Fire Opal grunted, trying to shove a branch out of his way only to have it snap back in his face.

As Emerald made charge at the corrupted creature, Carnelian tugged at loose branches in an attempt to help free Fire Opal. Hematite looked between her and the cat-bird-thing before rushing over to help Carnelian. “It looks like a really jacked up sphinx,” Hematite grunted, attempting to pull off a new branch, only to fall backwards on his butt with a bunch of leaves in hand.

Carnelian paused as Aquamarine joined the fray with Emerald. Sparks and explosion noises from Emerald were ignored by her, "A what?” She looked him over confused, “Did you hit your gem when you fell?”

Hematite rolled his eyes and got to his feet, “Y'know. A sphinx. Like, mythology and stuff.” Carnelian remained silent when something clicked in Hematite’s mind, “You don’t pay attention in class do you?”

Carnelian’s eyes narrowed, “You’re one to talk.”

Emerald and Aquamarine flew by, both landing a meter away groaning. Carnelian and Hematite turned back to the corrupted gem with wide eyes. Part of it’s fur was singed where Aquamarine landed a combo of rain and lighting while it’s wings were torn from Emerald’s blade. It set its glowing red eyes on the two standing gems. Fire Opal grunted, fruitlessly attempting to unstuck his foot, “KIDS WATCH OUT!”

The paw of the sphinx swiped for Carnelian and Hematite, only to miss as Carnelian shoved them both back. Hematite scurried off with Carnelian in tow, “Isn’t it gonna ask us a riddle?” He joked. Voice shaking with nerves and adrenaline.

“Why would it ask us a riddle?” Carnelian skidded to a halt in front of Aqua, whom was finally getting to his feet, “Corrupted gems can’t even talk!” Aqua gave her a look that made her stumble on her words, “Okay, most corrupted gems.”

He grunted, “Move,” before snapping his fingers and sending another lightning bolt towards the ‘sphinx’. It screeched and retracted it’s paw.

Emerald bounced to his feet readjusting his glasses, “Target confirmed. Direct hit.”

“A direct hit yes,” Carnelian whipped out her book, and began building a half dome shield with paper, “But it’s going to take a lot to wear it out and Fire Opal is still under the tree.”

“He’ll be fiiiiiiine,” Emerald said, painting the air in front of the group before a bulldozer shovel dirt pile was thrown like a snowball in their direction.

“But we’re not…” Hematite muttered.

“We’ve been lucky so far,” Carnelian pointed out before nodding at the other two, “I’ll drop my half while Ed drops his and we’ll flank 'em.”

Hematite blinked, “Wait we’re gonna what?”

“Now!” The paper and ink shields parted. The paper returning to Carnelian’s book and the ink splattered the ground. (Reminded Hematite of that weird squid game Zoey tried to teach him how to play.) Everyone splitted off in alternate routes around the down tree. Except for Hematite. The sphinx’s tail waved back and forth like a metronome. It crouched forward, opening the damaged wings and raising its rear. Like a cat ready to pounce on a laser pointer dot. Hematite’s eyes widened as the sphinx’s locked on his. Carnelian was the first to look back and notice Hematite’s absence. Before she could yell out the creature went soaring.

And missed it’s target.

Hematite dove out of the sphinx’s way. It collided with the ground. The damaged wings taking their toll. Hematite didn’t hesitate to look back. He kept running until he reached the safety of the trees. Gone. The others exchanged unspoken words as the sphinx righted itself. Emerald and Aqua went back to teasing the corrupted gem as Carnelian went after Hematite. She spotted him right away, hiding behind a tree. His fingers clinging to the bark.

Carnelian felt a tree root catch her foot. She tumbled forward and smoothly rolled over to Hematite like she had meant to do that. “It’s no good. We’re getting our butts kicked and I know you’re still new to being a gem, but we have to fuse!”

Hematite’s eyes widened, “F-fuse?! Are you crazy?!”

Carnelian grinned and held out her hand, “So are we gonna fuse or are we gonna fuse?”

Hematite’s eyes narrowed at Carnelian’s hand as she waited for an answer. He stared at it for a moment before looking back at her, “I’m not dancing with you.”

She rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms, “Oh come on Hema, you won’t know how it’s gonna be unless you try.”

“You’re not giving me much of a choice here!”

She gestured to the battle happening beyond the trees, “We don’t exactly have much of a choice.” His lips thinned as his fingers dug deeper into the bark, “So you messed up on your first try so what?”

She cringed as she heard Emerald yelling, “Stop talking and help you nerds!” Sometimes she forgot about his excellent hearing.

Hematite stared at his fingers and released his hold of the oak tree. Sap oozed from the holes he created. He held out his hand to Carnelian, “Alright.”

She grinned, “Then we gonna fuse.” She paused, looking at his sap covered hand, and took it. It was going to get everywhere anyways, “Ready?”

“Nope.”

Carnelian took a couple steps back, “This will be a little hard. Not a lot of space.”

“Still not giving me a choice are you?” Hematite wiped the sap off his hand onto some leaves. He removed his cap and placed it on a branch like is was a hook, “We’re not leaving this.”

She pointed at him with both index fingers, “We won’t,” then pointed at her cheeks, “think you can mirror me?” He raised an eyebrow and copied her. She nodded before waving her arms around and sticking her leg out, “Baby steps.” He followed, mimicking her until she started to speed up. “[You have to cut loose ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhHynAxHURA)and feel it.”

Her moves matched the rhythm in her head to a beat he couldn’t hear. _Doesn’t mean you can’t feel it._ He nearly lost his footing. The intrusive voice in his head sighed, _make up a tempo and stick to it. Think too much and you’ll hit your gem again._ Hematite closed his eyes as Carnelian continued her pop and lock motions. A low bass thrummed in his head and he felt himself let go. The music grew louder until he began hearing another instrument play. He moved and felt the world shift. Bright light enveloped him and he could hear another voice in his head. _**You ready to kick some butt?**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alt. Title: Fire Opal is Weak Against Trees  
> Alt. Alt. Title: SHUT UP AND DANCE WITH ME  
> The irony was I was experiencing difficulties with this chapter.


	4. Tiger's Eye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally complete!!! Woo!! Ah this is the first chapter fic I've done in so long and I actually completed one aaah!! Sorry about spamming the fic tag ^^; I technically have 2 other pnat fics to post on here, but I think I'll hold off on posting those on here till maybe next month (especially since I now have another chapter fic oops). ANYWHO ENJOY THE LAST INSTALLMENT OF EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTIES~

Emerald was flying, but not the fun kind of flying like the time Aqua controlled a mini tornado under him to reenact a scene from Mission: Probably. No, it was the painful, let’s skip a rock over water that totally is just the cold hard ground. After about the third grassy skip, Emerald slid into the crater he and Carnelian made earlier. He groaned and re-adjusted his glasses. He dug at his ear and pulled out a clump of grass before shrugging, “Eh, pulled out worse,” Emerald sat up just in time for Aqua to land with an oof next to him, “So how’d it go?”

Aqua rubbed his arm as he rolled upright, “We’re in a hole.”

Emerald raised his hand, “Technically it’s a mini crater.”

“I don’t care about your technicalities.”

The corrupted gem roared again, cutting off Emerald’s sass, “SILENCE!” It’s tail agitatedly waved side to side. It stomped it’s way over to Emerald and Aqua, looking down into the hole.

Emerald’s mouth was shaped like an o, “IT CAN TALK!?”

Aqua flicked a pebble across the crater, “Told ya.”

“I thought that was just you making stuff up!”

“Why would I lie?!”

“For dramatics? I don’t know!”

“I AM OFFENDED BY THAT VERY SENTENCE!”

The ground shook as the sphinx like creature put it’s foot down, “SIIIIIIIIILENCE!” It loomed over them, it’s bent stinger like nose still aimed at the sky, “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TWO AND YOUR [HORRIBLE POP CULTURE REFERENCES](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ)!”

Fire Opal stumbled out from the grabby tree branches and huffed a sigh of relief before cupping his hands over his mouth like a microphone and shouted, “I TOLD YOU TO STOP, EMERALD!”

Emerald snorted, “Found him.” As Aqua pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered incoherent words under his breath.

The sphinx turned towards Fire Opal, it’s red eyes glinting with rage. It’s tail flicked the two smaller gems to the tree’s edge. Fire Opal winced as they landed in a heap on top of each other, and not paying attention to the corrupted gem looming over him, “ANSWER MY RIDDLE AND I’LL LET YOU LIVE. FOUR HOLD CURLS AND ONE CURLS OVER. WHAT DOES THIS FORM?” Fire Opal’s lips thinned as his mind scoured for answers. The sphinx gave him a chester cat like smile, the same one Emerald would give when he was being mischievous, “TIMES UP!”

It swiped its paw at Fire Opal. He jumped back and stumbled into the branches of the downed tree. The sphinx turned, it’s long feathered tail slicing a near by evergreen. Before Fire Opal had a chance to pull himself out of the branches, the evergreen fell on top of him.

Emerald and Aqua winced. “[He didn’t move or dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igv301Ra4qQ) out of the way.”

“Two in one day wow.”

The sphinx spun on it’s paws, “I DOUBT EITHER OF YOU WOULD HAVE THE ANSWER.”

The two looked at each other and before either could take a guess, a loud snap from the trees to their right stole their attention. A one story (really need a better measurement of tall things when buildings aren’t around but will it happen? probably not) tall gem with four arms and a running start ran at full steam ahead at the corrupted gem. “Oh yeah well riddle me FIST!” Two of the new gem’s fists made contact with the sphinx’s face. One at it’s cheek and the other right in the eye.

Emerald’s eye twitched while he touched his gem eye. Psychological warfare can work both ways. Aqua patted his back while frowning at the new gem. It had to be Hematite and Carnelian…

“You two alright?” They asked, side glancing Aquamarine and Emerald before crossing their arms in front of them as the sphinx threw another dirt pile in their direction.

“WRONG!” the sphinx shouted, “IT WAS THE BANGLES.”

“HOW. DOES. THAT. MAKE. ANY. SENSE!?”

Emerald tapped his index finger against his lower lip before pulling out his paint brush from his gem eye again. He painted what seemed to be math calculations in the air, but none of them made any sense. Aqua raised an eyebrow, “What are you-”

Emerald turned, “The sphinx is right. It’s the band.”

There was a quadruple face palm from the fusion, “Edmerald could you at least try and-”

Emerald grinned. Aquamarine’s eyes widened in horror, “Oh god no-”

“OH MY GOD DO I TRY!” Emerald blurted.

“NO!” Aqua tackled Emerald to the ground, “NOT AGAIN!” Emerald laughed in response.

The sphinx roared as it charged at them only to be blocked by the fusion, “We don’t think so,” they said, picking up one of the downed trees and using it like a baseball bat against the sphinx. Fire Opal stumbled away from the other tree, counting his blessing. His gaze shifted to Emerald and Aquamarine tussling in the grass.

“Worth it!” Emerald said in between laughs.

“Was it?” Aqua asked, still trying to pin Emerald down, “was it really?”

Emerald’s grin grew wider, “But Aqua, [in the end does it even matter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVTXPUF4Oz4)?”

Meanwhile, the fight between fusion and corrupted gem continued. The tree they were as a bat had lost most of its branches and was starting to split. The sphinx swiped it’s paw at them again, scraping it’s claws against the tree bark. They grinned, “Ha! Is that the best you-” half the tree they were holding fell to the ground with a thud, “Oh-well then.” They tossed the trunk behind them as their gems on top of their head and one of their right hands began to glow.

The sphinx stumbled, watching it’s opponent combined their weapons. They spun the bat into two, snapped their fingers as paper wrapped around the handles. They struck a pose with their new weapon, nunchucks, at the ready. The sphinx’s eye narrowed as it opened it’s maw, “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PUNCHING GEMS IN THE EYE LIKE THAT!?”

“That’s because,” they rolled their shoulders, “I’m [Tiger’s Eye](http://paranaturalrocks.tumblr.com/tagged/tigers-eye) you jerk.” It roared in response, and charged. Tiger’s Eye firmly planted their feet, waiting for the right moment before spinning to the side and slamming their nunchuck at the sphinx’s ribs. It yowled as it tumbled before a puff of smoke covered the area. Once cleared, a large red gem sat on the grass, glistening in the setting sun. Tiger’s Eye sighed in relief. Their weapon popping out of existence as they walked over to the gem. A bronze bubble covered it before Tiger’s Eye compressed it with their hands. “Delivery sent,” Tiger’s Eye ran one hand through their hair, “mission complete.”

Emerald ran up to them and clung to their left leg, “That was awesome!!!!”

Aqua crossed his arms in front of his chest, “So you fused?”

Tiger’s Eye grinned, pulling Emerald off their leg and placing him on their shoulder, “Yep! And now that the mission’s done,” they placed one of their hands on the ground in front of Aqua, “wanna hop on and go get some ice cream?”

Emerald whooped, “Yeah! Ice cream!” He frowned and rubbed his chin, “Whatever that is…”

Aqua stared at the hand for a moment before hopping on, “Okay sure, but are you two gonna stay fused when we get there?” He took his spot on Tiger’s Eye’s vacant shoulder.

“Hey longer legs, faster transport,” Tiger’s Eye stated before they started walking back towards civilization.

Fire Opal groaned, moving a tree branch out of his face. Twice in one day. Twice. He heard large footsteps moving farther and farther away, “Kids? Hello? Can someone pick up this tree? KIDS?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They forgot Hematite's hat...  
> Alt title: It's the Thrill of the Fight.  
> Alt alt title: Let's See How Many 80's Songs Glow Can Make A Reference To
> 
> (If you didn't know I've added links throughout the chapters and also gave each chapter a title and at the end note put in alt titles~ )


End file.
